Ed Mulholland-USA TODAY Sports activities
The New Jersey Devils loved a surprising 112-point breakthrough efficiency in 2022-23 following a number of years of rebuilding. Nevertheless, goaltending stays a possible Achilles heel that might derail their Stanley Cup hopes this season.
Vitek Vanecek and Akira Schmid enter this season because the Devils’ goaltending tandem. Nevertheless, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman talked about within the Oct. 9 32 Thoughts podcast he thinks GM Tom Fitzgerald is monitoring the goalie market.
It is not the primary time hypothesis has surfaced suggesting Fitzgerald might look right into a goaltending improve. Rumors over the summer season linked the Devils to the Winnipeg Jets’ Connor Hellebuyck and the Anaheim Geese’ John Gibson.
Hellebuyck, nevertheless, is now off the market after signing a seven-year extension with the Jets on Monday. Gibson, in the meantime, carries a $6.4-million average annual value through 2026-27. The Geese might additionally set a excessive asking worth for the 30-year-old netminder.
New Jersey Hockey Now’s James Nichols does not imagine the Devils have an imminent plan to amass a goalie. He thinks Fitzgerald will wait and see how Vanecek and Schmid carry out over the course of the season.
If Fitzgerald had a extra fast want for an improve between the pipes, he’ll discover the pickings slim. There are not any dependable beginning goalies nonetheless of their prime at present out there.
A number of goaltenders with low-cost contracts, akin to Toronto’s Martin Jones, Anaheim’s Alex Stalock and Pittsburgh’s Magnus Hellberg, have been not too long ago out there on waivers. Fitzgerald might’ve plucked considered one of them off the wire however selected to not go that route.
If Fitzgerald does go into the commerce marketplace for a goaltender, it is extra possible he’ll achieve this nearer to the commerce deadline. Higher choices may very well be out there to him by that time.
Information Abstract:
- New Jersey Devils May Discover Slim Pickings within the Goalie Commerce Market
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